Left: Kath Macleod was pivotal in the Rangers 66-63 victory over the Canberra Capitals.
By Jarrod Potter
KATH Macleod stepped up in the Dandenong Rangers’ 66-63 win over the Canberra Capitals in round one of the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL).
With recruits Brittany Wilkins (knee) and Jenna O’Hea (calf) unable to play, Macleod played a stand-out match of 21 points, six rebounds and nine assists to help edge out the Capitals by three points.
Macleod worked tirelessly, playing all but 48 seconds at the end of the first quarter.
With scores tied on 44 going into the last quarter, it was Macleod who sunk 10 points, including four clutch free throws at the death, to see the Rangers narrowly home against last season’s grand finalists.
Tegan Cunningham also shone in the victory, scoring 16 points and snaring 14 rebounds in her Dandenong debut.
The Rangers struggled through the third, after leading 36-27 at half-time. Dandenong shot at only 16.7 field-goal per cent for the quarter as their lead was whittled away by Canberra’s Marianna Tolo (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Carly Wilson (12 points, nine rebounds).
The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth tussle, as the lead was traded seven times, with the Capitals moving out to a 51-48 advantage through a Wilson three-pointer. Macleod made the field-goal to push the Rangers ahead 58-57 with 3.27 remaining.
With 15.3 remaining in the match, Canberra’s Jess Bibby missed what would’ve been the match tying three-pointer, before Molly Lewis sent Macleod to the free-throw line to put the match beyond doubt.
Dandenong coach Mark Wright highlighted the efforts of Macleod in the victory.
“You come to expect that from Kathleen,” Wright said.
“She’s star quality. When things get tough we put it in her hands.”
Wright said O’Hea was close to playing, but precaution took precedence under the circumstances.
“Jenna would’ve played if it was a final, but it was more of a safety thing to make sure things didn’t get any worse,” Wright said. “She’ll definitely play next week.”
Wright praised Krista Phillips (nine points, six rebounds), who only flew into Australia on Thursday afternoon.
“Krista flew in Thursday at lunchtime and trained with us Thursday night,” he said. “She’s going to be very good for us in this league.”
The Rangers face the Logan Thunder on Saturday night, which opened the season with a 61-56 win over the Bendigo Spirit.
It will be the first encounter between the sides since last season’s elimination final, which Logan won, but Wright said any thought of payback isn’t a motivator for the Rangers.
“That’s the personal thing,” Wright said. “A lot of the players are new in our team, so they don’t know or care for what happened last season and are purely focused on this season.
“We won’t use that as a motivation; it’s a bit of a feel out for them and us, so it’ll be interesting.
They’re more talented than they were last year so it’ll be a tough game.”
